Beak to talon
There was one additional encounter with a Bald eagle in the Khutzeymateen that I really enjoyed. The rain cleared on the evening of the second day and the weather was beautiful on the morning of the third day. We were crossing the inlet heading towards the side where the sun had just reached down the mountains to the shoreline. An eagle was lit beautifully as it perched on a rock exposed during low tide.
At first I thought it was watching the seagulls at the mouth of the creek it was perched beside. We watched it for a while as it surveyed its dominion. It seemed in no rush to join the fray as the gulls jostled for scraps of fish that floated downstream from a bear working on the salmon up in the creek hidden in the forest.
When it took flight clutching the tail end of a salmon in its beak that it had pulled out of a little nook, I realized it had been pausing between feasts. Watching it pass right in front of our boat, I had a few good images. When it started to climb off the water, it passed the fish from to its talons, presumably allowing for more comfortable flight.
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I loved the light and the sense of place in the flight images. When the eagle passed the fish back, it was the defining moment of the encounter for me.
Christopher Martin Photography 
Such a majestic creature!
November 21, 2013 at 10:33 am
wow, royal eagle, my all time most fav bird ….
October 28, 2013 at 11:28 pm
great series, that last one would have been difficult the way the light is, but you captured it well.
October 22, 2013 at 2:42 pm
The first photo is fantastic. We see so many pictures of birds flying majestically – it’s rare to see them doing something so awkward and real as passing a fish back, but that’s when you get to remember that they are real animals and not just pretty symbols.
October 22, 2013 at 1:11 pm
Wow! I really feel the eagle energy in these pics. Stunning!
Bobbi
October 22, 2013 at 12:14 pm
More beautiful photos!
October 22, 2013 at 11:24 am
Fantastic shots.
October 22, 2013 at 8:31 am